Michael Chow: From psychology and Python to constrained creativity

For this episode, we turn the mic around. Wes McKinney takes over the interviewer’s chair to chat with his co-host, Michael Chow. Michael’s a principal software engineer at Posit, but he started out studying how people think — literally, with a PhD in cognitive psychology. Somewhere along the way, he got hooked on data science, helped build adaptive learning tools at DataCamp, and now spends his days thinking about how to make Python easier to use and more fun.

The two dig into what drives Michael’s curiosity, how a “weird obsession with tables” turned into a beloved open source project, and the future of data science/scientists.

Episode Notes:
We explore Michael’s path from studying the mind to shaping the Python data science ecosystem. From adaptive learning platforms to Great Tables, Michael shares how following unexpected curiosities can spark tools and communities that last.

What’s Inside:

• Michael’s pivot from an academic career in data science
• Behind-the-scenes messiness of building data and learning platforms
• Open source projects born out of zany, single-minded passions
• Bringing beauty to rows and columns
• Big-picture thoughts on where data science — and open source tooling — are headed